Timothy Chisholm

Henslow Fellow 2023-

Dr Timothy Chisholm works in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and is the Henslow Fellow at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge. Tim also completed his PhD at the Department, in the Hunter Group, and before joining St Edmund’s, he was a member of Trinity College.

Tim research aims to develop diagnostic methods for neurodegenerative diseases, and for Parkinson’s disease in particular. Ten million people are estimated to have Parkinson’s disease worldwide, with one million new cases being diagnosed each year. However, diagnosing Parkinson’s can be very challenging. One in four patients are initially misdiagnosed, and this initial diagnosis can take months to years.

Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases are characterised by protein aggregates; clumps of misfolded protein that appear in the brain. Tim’s PhD research focused on finding new molecules that cling to these aggregates, and on developing a better understanding as to how these molecules interact with aggregates. As a Henslow Fellow Timothy is expanding on this work to study several different aspects of neurodegenerative diseases. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a diagnostic test that can identify Parkinson’s disease both earlier and more accurately.

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